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How-To Geek

If you’ve played Minecraft, then it’s easy to see how much fun it can be. Running your own server lets you bring all of your friends into the same game, and you can play with rules you get to make or break. It’s the ultimate in an already addictive game!

We’ve already shown you How To Get Started with Minecraft, a Game Geeks Love. What’s better than single player? Multiplayer, of course! You can join one of hundreds of servers at minecraftservers.net to get started, or search around for more exclusive ones, but ultimately you’re bound by their rules and discretion. Running your own server lets you and your friends can play together with your own set of rules, and it’s really easy to do.

Download and First Run

Head on over to the Minecraft Download page and go down to the “Multiplater beta server software” section. Windows users can Just download the .exe file and run it. OS X and Linux users should download the .jar file, then run the server using the following command in Terminal:

java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar minecraft_server.jar nogui

If you want to devote more (or less) RAM to your server, change the 1024M to something else, like 2048M. The first number is the maximum amount it can use, and the second number is the minimum. Since everything is in Java, you should have at least a spare gig of RAM to devote to Minecraft. Things can get unruly with a decent amount of people playing, especially when you start to do crazy stuff like blowing up huge caverns with massive amounts of TNT.

In the server window, you’ll see the memory and processor thread use on the left, the list of connected players in the lower left, and the log and chat window on the right side. The first time you run the server, you’ll get some errors at first. That’s normal, so don’t panic!

The server didn’t find the configuration files it needs, so it’ll make them. You’ll see some new files come up in the same folder as your server.

There’s the “world” folder, which contains your generated map area, an ops list, and a server.properties file, among other things.

Once the world is finished generating, you’ll get a little notice about the help file. Close the server, or if you’re running it in Terminal, just type “stop” (without the quotes). We’re going to tweak and we can’t do that while the server’s running.

Tweaking the Server’s Properties

Open up the server.properties file in notepad. You’ll see something like this:

You’ll see some important options.

level-name: This is the name of your Minecraft world. If you change this name, the server will look for a folder with a matching name, and if none is found, it will generate a new level with this name.

spawn-monsters: If set to false, monsters such as zombies, skeletons, and creepers will not spawn. Often turned off for “op” or “creative” servers, where everyone builds and survival is not the focus of gameplay.

spawn-animals: If set to false, animals such as wolves, cows, sheep, and chickens will not spawn.

pvp: If set to false, players will not be able to harm one another, although you can still inflict damage by pushing other players off of ledges.

white-list: If set to true, the server will only allows the usernames in the “white-list.txt” file to successfully connect and play.

Since it’s your server, be sure to add your Minecraft username in the “ops.txt” file. That way, you’ll be an “operator” with full admin rights. You can generate any item you want, ban players, make other players ops, and change the in-game time.

In order for your friends to connect to your server you’ll have to configure port forwarding on your router. The default port is 25565, but this can be changed in the server.properties file. Your friends will need your IP address (or DNS alias/redirect) and this port number so that they can connect.

When you’re ready, start up the server again.

Playing On a Server

When you start Minecraft, you’re given the option of connecting to a multiplayer server. Clicking on it will allow you to enter its address information.

If you’re playing on the same computer as your server, you can just type “localhost” (without the quotes). Otherwise, plug in your server’s IP address or domain name. Click connect, and you’ll join the server.

Hit T to bring up the chat console.

You’ll see all of the public messages by users, system messages, and commands that you’ve executed. Notice the little prompt (>) in the lower left corner. Typing something and hitting Enter will send a message to all other players in a group chat. You can execute commands here, too, and they always start with a forward slash (/).

As an op, you should be able to type “/list” and hit Enter to list all of the connected players. You can also give items to any player (including yourself), ban and pardon specific users, and change the system time. If you’re unsure of a specific command’s requirement, you can type “/help” to get more info. For the full list of server commands, check out the Minecraft Wiki’s Server Commands page.

Now go and tell all of your friends to join! There’s nothing that beats building massive structures, exploring the vast landscape, and mining into moutains, except doing it with 8 of your best friends.

Comments (95)

You can get rid of the “nogui” part on the Java commandline version if you’re on OSX or running X. It’ll give you the same GUI as the Windows version.
Also, I don’t think you should increase Xms, only Xmx value.
Finally: http://canihostaminecraftserver.com/

??
Pardon my humble opinion, but I think the server window will not appear when “nogui” is put in the command line. If you would like the server window to appear, DO NOT put “nogui” in the command line.

as i am not an expert by anymeans, this coment is ment for the persn named ‘doctor’ on this thread. i have a netgeaar router aswell, i am thinking they use a kind of software that dosent display its ip the normal way, i never fiigured the issue out, however, i did get my server up by simply runing the .exe file from the minecraft site, it set everything up, and i have several friends playing on it atm. i dont know it it did the port forwarding ffor me, but its running the proper port and i didnt have to change my router or any files…

How would one set up a separate server on the same computer as another server? I’ve got one that me and a few friends just build and screw around on, but I’d like to have one where me and some other friends can actually try and play on (ie, no server commands). Can anyone tell me how to do this or point me in the direction of some information on how it’s done?

I’ve done the preparing the spawn points part, “stopped” it and changed the server properties, but now I cant work out how to run/start the server again so I get a “Connection: Refused” message when I enter the IP of the server into multiplayer, please tell me how to run the server again

I use dot block for my vps for minecraft, it runs amazing and its only $1 for a 30 day trial! Its amazing and i highly recommend it. Just use the link below to go to their website: goo.gl/14NLK trust me its worth the 1 dollar! Enjoy

Just created a successfull online world but the only problem is tht it doesnt have any commands in-game like for instance /warpspawn it just says the player tried this but the command doesnt exist can u tell me wats going on ????

@cam
that requires you to setup a craftbukkit server with a warping plugin (such as xwarp or my warp) . that command is not supported in the offical minecraft server software (like i said, you need a craftbukkit server and a warping plugin).

(for anyone wondering why there is no server properties file ect)
put the server.exe in an empty folder (call it server or something) and then run it. you will see in the box with all the commands, it will say 10%….20%…. when it gets to 100 you can close the program. then in the folder you made, there will be server.properties, and ‘world’

hope that helped.

oh and anyone wondering about port forwarding, just use portforward.com its so easy. if that doesnt have your router on it, just type in your external ip address and try and figure it out yourself :)

you have to edit the server.properties file to allow more than 1 person btw ~

GEEK TRIVIA

DID YOU KNOW?

The model on the iconic cover of 1965 Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass album Whipped Cream & Other Delights is not in fact sitting in a pile of whipped cream but shaving cream (the heat of the studio lights made it impossible to work with whipped cream).